Pasta Carbonara

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As the Kansas weather did its crazy thing again (70 degrees and sunny last Saturday, 5 degrees and sleet/snow today), we turned to one of our family's favorite comfort foods.

We usually follow the pasta with a romaine (or baby romaine) salad with a balsamic vinaigrette.

Something like Bogle Essential Red (blend of cabernet, zinfandel, syrah and petite sirah) or similar blend works well to accompany the dish.

1 pound spaghetti (or linguine), preferably DeCecco or Barilla or better
1 large onion, chopped in roughly 1/2" pieces
4-6 strips bacon, also cut into 1/2" pieces
3-4 eggs

Put on a large pot of salted water.

Meanwhile, saute bacon on low until fully cooked and close to crispy. Remove from pan.

Add a bit of olive oil to the pan, then add onions. Saute on medium low until nearly caramelized.

Add the bacon back to the pan and cook onions and bacon together on medium low for 3-5 minutes. They will get a bit browner and begin to smell sweet.  Turn off the heat under the bacon/onions while you cook the pasta. (If pan is too hot, eggs will scramble and not be absorbed into pasta.)

When pasta water is at full boil, add pasta and cook according to directions.When pasta is finished cooking, drain and quickly add it to the pan with the bacon and onions, then immediately pour in the eggs. The pasta should still be nice and hot when the eggs are added.

Toss all (tongs work well) until egg is absorbed.  Serve, then grind some fresh black pepper on top, if desired.

More Chard Ideas

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The genesis for this blog was a chard recipe, and we continue to love chard and often try new ways to prepare it.  Mark suggested substituting bacon for the toasted pine nuts we often use so I gave it a go and we may have a new favorite...  Serious yumminess!

Chard with Bacon

This recipe serves 2 people, so adjust the proportions accordingly.

1 strip of bacon
1 onion
One bunch Swiss chard (about 6 leaves)
1-3 T olive oil
1/2 pound Fusilli (or other pasta) OR 1 c rice OR 1 c quinoa

Cut the bacon into about 1" pieces then sauté in a medium size saute pan
on medium heat until crispy.  Set aside.

While the bacon is cooking, slice the chard (Elderslie Farm has beautiful chard!)
and cut the stems into small pieces.

Add 1-2 T of olive oil to the same pan and saute sliced onions and chard stems
until they begin to caramelize.

Add the chard and cook down together on medium until the chard is wilted.

Add the mixture to fusilli (as shown) or on top of rice or quinoa and
drizzle some good-quality extra virgin olive oil over the top.
Add bacon after serving so it stays crispy.

Chard with Eggs

I suppose it should be "Eggs with Chard" but in my book chard is nearly always the main ingredient. :) I was by myself the day I made this so adjust proportions accordingly when making it for more than one person.

1 T olive oil
1 bunch chard (about 6 leaves)
1 clove garlic
2 eggs
2 T or so of goat cheese (or anything that sounds good that you have on hand)

I sauteed the stems in olive oil then added slices of garlic and cooked it on low
to let the oil absorb the flavor.  Then I added the chard.

I cracked a couple of eggs into the pan...

...then scrambled it together until cooked through, then added goat cheese
and stirred just a bit so the cheese could be incorporated but not lose its freshness.

Turnips and Turnip Greens (Food and Wine)

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I came to Estes Park Colorado a number of times in the spring and early summer to make decisions about a house we have now finished (and are vacationing in for the first time as I write this!).  I stopped by Elderslie Farm on my way out of town each time and picked up my CSA share so I could try new things or make old favorites.

I have to admit, I've tasted and even enjoyed turnips before but have never found a recipe I was very enthusiastic about.  However, my daughter, Lauren, joined me recently in Estes and she made a turnips and turnip greens from Food and Wine that was incredibly tasty.  I've made it several times since then and still love it!  I now triple the mustard butter recipe so it's ready for the next time I want to make this recipe.  It has more steps than most of the recipes I choose to make, but it is so worth it...

Start with locally grown turnips and turnip greens if you can.
Mine are from Elderslie Farm.

Make the mustard butter, then boil the turnips and combine with the butter.

Sautee onions, garlic and boiled turnip greens in mustard butter and olive oil.

Add the piquillo peppers (like roasted red peppers but smaller).

We served the greens and turnips over quinoa.  It was even better the next day.

Kale Salad with Currants and Parmesan (Epicurious)

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I happened on this memorable kale salad recipe last year and can hardly bring myself to do anything else with the kale from my Elderslie farm share.  I can't recommend this recipe highly enough, and I wouldn't change a thing about it. :)  Just be sure to slice the kale very thin.

Click here for the link to the recipe and a beautiful photo.  Note that 100% of the people who made the recipe would make it again.

Broccoli Florets and Onions on Rice

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Mark had a long day and wasn't very hungry so we wanted to do something quick and easy and light for dinner.  An old favorite has been a pasta with zucchini and onions and I thought I'd try a similar preparation, but with broccoli florets.

I started a pot of water to boil rice (pasta could just as easily be used but we were in the mood for rice this time) and a another pot for steaming the florets.  I tossed the stems in the steamer first to get them started, then added the florets since they take a bit less time to cook.  When it was finished (still bright green and almost pierceable by a fork), I ran cold water over them to stop the cooking and set them aside.

When the water for the rice was boiling, I tossed that in and salted it a bit partway through.

I then sautéed a sliced onion in olive oil until golden and caramelized, salting them a bit halfway through cooking or so. When the onions were finished, I tossed the broccoli florets back into the pan with the onions and tossed it all with tongs, adding another tablespoon or two of olive oil and some Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper.  From here we served the mixture over rice, but one could just as easily serve it with pasta or as a side dish.

We had a Sauvignon Blanc open but we decided we might like to try a red with this.  Mark opened a Terrasses de Frigoulet from the Languedoc and it was surprisingly good together!  As a side note, the Languedoc is a new discovery for us... we had a fantastic bottle from Le Mas de L'Ecriture at Ze Kitchen Gallery in Paris last month and have started looking for other wines in the vicinity until we can find that one again someday.  

Pea Shoots and Goat Cheese on Toasted Ciabatta

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What a delight it was to drive up to Elderslie Farm yesterday and see several folks there, admiring the beautifully displayed produce and picking up their farm shares!  George and Alexis could've set their goods out on plastic tables, in plastic bins, and it would've tasted just as good, but they have chosen to make everything as beautiful as possible, which really does add to the experience.  George has crafted tables and crates out of the wood he cut down and milled, and they are just beautiful.  The delightful Elderslie logo adorns the crates, and now their new shirts (white button-down, mind you, not just t-shirts!).

But I digress.  Yesterday's farm share included Swiss chard, radishes, green onions, broccoli florets, Rubicon Chinese cabbage and pea shoots (a particular favorite!).  I laid everything on the island and admired it all for a minute, then decided to start with the pea shoots.

I nibbled one little shoot raw, and of course it was tasty just as is, and would be wonderful added to a salad.

I was in the mood for a little snack, though, so I popped a slice of a good Ciabatta into the toaster oven, then sautéed a handful of pea shoots in olive oil for less than a minute.  I topped the toast with Bucherondine goat cheese and laid the pea shoots on top, then drizzled some good extra virgin olive oil on it.  YUM.   Next time I'll take the time to toss a bit of garlic or shallot into the olive oil and saute it a few seconds before adding the pea shoots. I will also loosely chop the pea shoots to make it easier to eat. :)

Beets and Beet Greens, Grilled Chicken with Yogurt and Lemons

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I grew up with beets from a can (school lunches, maybe?) so the beautiful roasted multi-colored Chioggia beets that arrived as an accompaniment to the entree I'd ordered at Zuni Cafe in San Francisco 15 some years ago were a revelation.  We were paying enough for the meal that I wasn't going to let anything on the plate go untasted, at least, and I was completely surprised.

So don't reject beets until you've tried roasting them yourself. Just sayin'.

Sometime last year I learned that beet greens can be eaten. Craziness. How did I get to be a 58-year-old beet-lover and not know that?  I must admit that the greens attached to the beets haven't looked particularly edible until I started buying them at farmer's markets... maybe I can use that as the excuse.

In any case, when I discovered a few days ago that one of the beautiful greens in my Elderslie Farm farm share happened to be attached to beets, I was delighted! I decided to cook them separately for this meal and I was very happy with the result.

I first trimmed the tops and bottoms of the beet roots, then cut off the stems. I rinsed everything, spinning the beet greens in a spinner. (These were baby beets; if I had had full-size beets I would've left a bit of the stems on the top of the beets and I would not have trimmed the bottom of the beets for roasting).

I packaged the beets up in some foil, sprinkling a couple teaspoons of water in the packet before closing it up so the beets would essentially steam in the package. I roasted them for maybe 30 minutes at 375 since there weren't very many and they were small.  As soon as I removed them from the oven I drizzled extra virgin olive oil over them and salted them lightly. Again, since they were baby beets, the skin did not need to be removed. The stems were cut and sauteed with onions cut into a similar size.

I happened to have a couple of lime wedges and used
them, but this dish usually uses lemons.

We decided to serve these with one of our favorite easy but tasty chicken preparations, which we usually do on a grill but since none was available we did in the oven. The highly-recommended recipe is below.

I made a mistake in the preparation this time and cooked the chicken breasts whole. They should have been cut into about thirds. My farm share is for two people and there were three for dinner; otherwise the plate would've had a (more healthy) larger portion of beets and greens and smaller portion of meat.

Baby Beets and Greens
Serves 2

1/2 share beets and greens (about 8 small beets)
1 small onion, chopped into small pieces (1/4" or so)
2 T olive oil
1 T balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper

Trim beets, stems and leaves, set each aside
Preheat oven to 375
If beets are varying sizes, cut them in half or quarters (or leave whole if quite small) so they are all roughly the same size.
Place the beets in a foil packet with 2-3 teaspoons of water, then place on a cookie sheet and bake/roast for 30 minutes (or until a fork easily pierces the beets).

Cut stems into small pieces, add to saute pan with the onions.  Cook over medium low heat until starting to change color and look a bit golden brown.  Add the T of balsamic vinegar and cook it down.  Add the leaves and toss all with tongs.  The leaves will reduce considerably in size.


Grilled Chicken Breasts with Yoghurt and Lemons
Serves 4

3 chicken breasts, cut roughly into thirds and salted with about 1 t salt
1 c plain yoghurt (Stonyfield Farm is excellent for this... preferably the whole milk variety)
1 lemon cut into 8 wedges
1 medium onion cut into 8 or more wedges (use more onions if you like grilled onions!)

Put all the ingredients in a Ziploc bag and squish them around to fully coat the chicken.  Let rest in the fridge for as long as you have, up to several hours.  If you don't happen to have a bag, just put them in a baking dish or a plastic container and sort of stir things around to coat them.

Remove the chicken and lemons and onions from the bag and grill on a medium fire until done - check after 12-15 minutes.  (A grill pan with holes or slits will prevent the lemons and onions from falling through the grate).